Sullivan | Early rising Monk finds range for UK

Kentucky faces Arkansas for the SEC tourney championship. The Wildcats head to the final for the fourth straight year and 41st in their history.

UK F Derek Willis after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK F Derek Willis after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK G Malik Monk after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK G Malik Monk after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK G Dominique Hawkins after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK G Dominique Hawkins after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK PG De’Aaron Fox after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK PG De’Aaron Fox after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK G Isaiah Briscoe after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK G Isaiah Briscoe after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK F Bam Adebayo after SEC tournament win over Alabama

UK F Bam Adebayo after SEC tournament win over Alabama

C-J’s Fletcher Page and Jon Hale talk about what’s next for UK

After easily beating Georgia, Kentucky now faces Alabama Saturday afternoon. Here’s what to look for in that match-up.

Looking ahead at SEC semifinals: Alabama v. Kentucky

Joe Rexrode, Tim Sullivan and Duane Rankin discuss the likely outcome of the semifinal game on Saturday between Kentucky and Alabama.

UK G Malik Monk after SEC tournament win over Georgia

UK G Malik Monk after SEC tournament win over Georgia

UK PG De’Aaron Fox after SEC tournament win over Georgia

UK PG De’Aaron Fox after SEC tournament win over Georgia

Wenyen Gabriel after SEC tournament win over Georgia

Wenyen Gabriel after SEC tournament win over Georgia

UK F Bam Adebayo after SEC Tournament win over Georgia

UK F Bam Adebayo after SEC Tournament win over Georgia

UK F Sacha Killeya-Jones still positive despite playing time

UK F Sacha Killeya-Jones still positive despite playing time

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Malik Monk got his groove back before breakfast.

Malik Monk smiled along with Wenyen Gabriel, left,as De’Aaron Fox reached to get five from Dominique Hawkins in the first half. Monk finished with 20 points; Fox had 28 points.

In the wake of his worst performance with the Kentucky Wildcats – a three-foul, two-point showing in Friday’s Southeastern Conference tournament game against Georgia – Monk arose early Saturday morning and began launching jump shots around 7:15 a.m.

Reluctant to share his “secrets,” the specifics of the shootaround session remain classified. The results, however, should be reassuring to those members of Big Blue Nation prone to panic. Having started March with his first two single-digit scoring games of the season, Monk reverted to form with a 20-point outburst in UK’s 79-74 victory over Alabama.

“They keep saying ‘You’re in a slump, bud,’” Isaiah Briscoe said when Monk took a seat in the dressing room. “They said, ‘He had a bad game yesterday and came out hot today.’ Nothing unusual about that. Things like that happen. He’s not perfect. He’s human.”

In truth, there have been times this season when Malik Monk looked like a higher life form than is typically found in college basketball. His 47-point barrage against North Carolina on Dec. 17 was otherworldly, a record for a Kentucky freshman and the most points any college player had ever scored for a John Calipari-coached team.

Though he claims to prefer penetrating drives to shooting from the perimeter, Monk’s 40.9 percent accuracy beyond the arc serves to spread the floor, open lanes for his teammates and encourage volume shooting. Monk’s definition of an “open” look would cause a lesser player claustrophobia. Asked in December how much room he required to get his shot off, Monk replied, “Like an inch.”

Yet there are enough moving parts in a jump shot that even the most deadly marksmen occasionally stray off-kilter. Monk missed eight of his 10 shots at Texas A&M in the regular-season finale and six out of seven in the SEC opener against Georgia. His shooting was so far off that he started shooting less often, entrusting teammates to carry a load that had spent most of the season on his shoulders.

“If they relied on me too much, we’d lose the games when I’m not playing good,” he said. “If I weren’t here, they’d be a great team, too. I’m just adding on.”

Given the talent at Calipari’s disposal, Monk’s misses have been a manageable problem. The Wildcats will take a 10-game winning streak into Sunday’s SEC championship game against Arkansas and, significantly, again showed their resilience in the face of a double-digit deficit against Alabama.

They are not as dependent on Monk as are most teams possessed of a conference player of the year, but it’s reasonable to expect UK’s prospects would be enhanced proportional to any improvements in Monk’s aim.

“If Malik has an off night, we know somebody else has to step up and score,” said Dominique Hawkins, “because we rely on Malik to score the ball for us.”

Monk has scored at least 20 points in 18 of Kentucky’s 33 games, averaging 20.5 points per game and challenging assumptions about sound shot selection. Even Saturday, after sinking his first three shots from the floor, Monk put up an airball from well beyond the 3-point arc as if to test his own limits.

“When I made my first shot, I had to ‘heat-check’ my next shot,” he said, explaining the process through which he finds his effective range. “(The airball) was a heat check. They know I’ll take a heat check shot sometimes and they’ll be fine with it.

“Following the first shot, I knew I was going to have a good game.”

Like most teams, Kentucky’s guiding philosophy is to continue feeding the hot hand until it cools off. Saturday, Derek Willis recalled passing up open shots to get the ball into Monk’s sizzling mitts against Michigan State.

Monk made seven three-point shots that day. Against North Carolina, he made eight.